Introduction

This is FAQ that I am interested in further
editing and improving. The topic of conspiracies has become more
prevalent in the American psyche and I’ve not found a free
compilation or overview of classic references. I don’t consider
myself an expert in this field, just a hardworking and curious
layman, and I would appreciate any insight that others can
offer. I know that a FAQ is a very iterative process in which
early versions are only marginal and incomplete, whereas later
versions can become extremely comprehensive with the help of
reader input.

With your help, I can really improve the
quality of this document. I am committing to keeping it
free for unlimited distribution at all times. If you know
some good references for any of these sections, in the
interest of educating humanity, please send them to me.

Note: I am not going to try to collect every reference that
exists. In particular I prefer to collect references to
other authoritative collections that contain references themselves.
I intend to keep a short list of web sites in this FAQ, which I don’t
intend to be exhaustive either, but which points to the premier
sites. If you have one of the most comprehensive sites on the
net, I would like to hear about your pointer, however, if you
are working with subtopics, please submit your URL to the
site maintainers of the more “master” sites.

I will generally not attempt to resolve the truth or falsity of various
issues, but simply remark on the contents of “conspiracy theory
literature” or CTL and let the reader decide.

Overviews

The field of CTL is rather vast, with some references mentioned
here focusing on specific angles and others focusing on
general overviews. References I have found useful for
overviews and references are [Epperson85], [Vankin95], [Icke95].
[Mullins85a] and [Still90] cover the NWO.
[Moench95] is in cartoon format but
is surprisingly comprehensive.

Secret Societies

CTL frequently focuses on the theme that secret societies exist
around the world and are used to manipulate world politics, the
media, and economics [Still90], [Miller]. These societies may be
involved in
“black magic” [King76]. Other societies such as the Trilateral Commission
and the Committee of 300 [Coleman] are used to manipulate world politics and
the media. The most notorious is known as the Illuminati [Wilgus] that
arises out of Freemasonry [VanHelsing95].

These societies are always interested in more power and use
subtle and hidden means to obtain it. For example, they recruit
members in key positions of power, not necessarily in open
or public view.

WWI, WWII, Nazism, etc…

A theme of CTL is that WWI, II, and Nazism were planned
by those in power. The idea is that arms manufacturers
benefit enormously from sales of armaments during a conflict.
See [Higham83].
Moreover, bankers that loan money to governments to finance
wars can make large sums of money when the money is paid
back with interest (profit). Some authors claim that bankers
actually arrange for wars to be started using a secret network
of agent provocateurs. See [Mullins85b].

Other authors claim that Hitler was not the mastermind of his
movement but in fact a pawn in a greater drama in which he
was utilized to be a suitable enemy for nations of the world
to mobilize against each other. Hitler and Nazism had many occult
ties which are often noted by the same authors.
See [Icke95, Quigley81, King76, Brennan74, Sutton76].

Another CTL claim is that the Jewish race and Israel
is used as a useful pawn by conspirators to obtain political
goals. See [Chomsky94].

Cold War

Some CTL suggests that global bankers planned
the confrontation of the West and East during the cold war
to increase profits due to government loans spent on defense
and armaments, and a way of infiltrating Russia with
their own pawns subservient to their
agenda during the Bolshevik revolution. See e.g.
[Sutton81].

United Nations/NWO

CTL refers to the United Nations as an agency ultimately
working for the enslavement of the human race through subtle
means. It asserts that even though well-meaning people are
involved in the effort, the hidden agenda is ultimately to
create a global tyranny through slow, imperceptable implementation.
The codeword for this arrangement is “New World Order” referred
to by political leaders (e.g. president Bush), perhaps some
unwittingly, for decades.
Nations are encouraged to give away their sovereignty to a
higher authority in the same way local citizens have given their
rights away to their national governments. See [Jasper92].

Government Revolutions

According to various CTL sources, government revolutions
are planned and instigated from behind the scenes by secret societies.
The upheaval allows them to seize power and manipulate the population,
such as implementing martial law, seizing assets of “revolutionaries”, etc.
The French revolution is held up as an example of a revolution that
was driven from behind the scenes by Freemasonry lodges. The
Bolshevik revolution is given as another example. The American
Revolution is considered variously by CTL authors to either be
in defiance or in line with the world conspiracy. See [Sutton81]
for the Bolshevik revolution or [Hall79] on America.

Terrorism and Sabotage

A major CTL theme is that terrorism is used by secret societies
for secret agendas. For example, a secret society might handily
murder many enemies all at once if they are all on the plane
at the same time. Supposedly this is sometimes the case when
one secret society discovers another secret society’s secret
airline plans of its members. Another claim of CTL is that
terrorism creates a fear that allows governments to crack down
on people and take away their rights, allowing greater control.
See [Skolnickxxx].

Another example would be the Oklahoma Bombing
conspiracy, which supposedly was used to polarize the public
against militias, who were successfully educating them about
their rights and the machinations of the world bankers.

Religion

According to much CTL, religions are used to brainwash the
masses and they are infected with much propaganda and disinformation.
In one CTL, the Catholic Church is rumored to have a large
storage of secret material stored in the Vatican. Other claims
are that the Christian religion was heavily manipulated at the
Council of Nicea to remove doctrines of reincarnation, masculinize
it, etc. and that the record of Christ’s life has been distorted
for control purposes. See [Baigent83].

Media Manipulation

A key conspiracy theory relates to the control of the media.
CTL suggests the media is controlled by various interests that
force a lack of objectivity even when the media appears to have
it. A bias toward the rich is a common suspicion about the
media. However, CTL suggests that a government itself desires
to manipulate the media to keep the population in the dark about
its agendas and operations. For example, much CTL suggests the
CIA doesn’t merely get information from reporters and editors, known as its
“assets”, but that it actively influences them in the information
they convey to the public. Various methods can be used such as payments,
appeal to “national security”, etc.

World Bankers

Federal Reserve Bank, IRS

1929 Great Depression

A major CTL theme is on the illegitimacy of the currency
system in the country. It insists that world bankers can
impose a kind of a hidden tax on currency via inflation
and interest rates. It asserts that the federal reserve
system is an inherently corrupt and parasitical system,
draining away wealth from the country via interest payments
on the national debt.

CTL states that the IRS is an illegitimate agency that was
never legally approved by law. CTL suggests that world bankers
snuck in the laws to support both the Federal Reserve and the
IRS to implement a system of hidden taxation on the entire
American public.

CTL insists that the depression of 1929 was artificially caused
by world bankers who wished to put the American economy under
a greater yolk, and seize the country’s gold and
assets at reduced rates. See [Mullins85b], [Emeryxxx],
[Koteen89].

Particularly of interest to CTL are developments that affect
the way the population uses money or the way that it is backed.
For example, the move to the Gold standard and the moves away
from it by Nixon are seen as highly relevant. Also new
electronic developments in the flow of money [Kurtzman93] are watched
closely by CTL writers who believe that the world order wants to
impose a global currency for purposes of control.

Death of Lincoln, Kennedy

A major CTL theme is that Lincoln and Kennedy were both on the verge
of introducing a currency that would be free of manipulation, control,
and profit by the world bankers, and were assassinated just prior to
implementing it. A speech that Kennedy gave at Columbia University
just prior to his assassination supposedly stated, “The high office
of the President has been used to foment a plot against the
American people. Before I leave office, I must inform the citizen
of his plight.” [Andrews86]. See [Piper95], [Keith92] for
information on the Kennedy assassination.

One view is that the presidents may have been killed for multiple
reasons. A higher level conspirator (like a world banker, e.g.
Rothschilds [Perry94]) might have his own reasons, and
convince a lower-level conspirator (like an assassin or mobster)
to kill Kennedy for other reasons (such as hating his policies on
crime, etc.)

NSA

The NSA, or National Security Agency, is the subject of
much CTL. CTL sometimes states the NSA is a front for concealing
secrets about aliens, or operations involving them. Other
scenarios are that the NSA is a “trojan horse” to create an authoritarian
government system. Officially,
the National Security Agency is in charge of creating cryptographic
devices for the military and government to allow secret communications.
The agency was concealed from existence for decades from its inception
in the 50’s. The NSA has a “black budget” in the billions of dollars
per year. See [Bamford82].

CIA

CTL claims that CIA agents are involved in many unauthorized
projects such as secret drug running to
finance covert operations involving the overthrow of governments,
etc. See [EIR], [Levine93].

Mind Control: CIA’s MKUltra

CTL states that the CIA was involved in a research program
to investigate mind control. This much is part of the public
record, in fact Congressional hearings were called to investigate
the program in the 70’s. However CTL states that the program
simply went underground and that it is still active.
Supposedly one useful aspect of mind control is to
train assassins to kill subjects in a sort of hypnotic
trance, so that they can’t remember the event or recall
the command to kill. See [O’Brien95].

Mena Drug Trafficking

Recent CTL focuses on Clinton’s record in Arkansas and
suggests he conspired with the CIA to allow drugs to
be trafficked through Mena, Arkansas. CTL states he
took bribes and moved up in the power structure
as a result of it. The funds are supposedly used for extremely
covert CIA operations that are so subversive they
can’t be sponsored with taxpayer
money. See [Reed94].

Vince Foster and Whitewater

CTL claims Vince Foster did not commit suicide but was
murdered to cover up some kind of crime. One theory is that
he was trading nuclear secrets to Israel via a secret
connection to the NSA. Another view is that he may have
known too much about Mena, Arkansas and was considering
making some decision that would threaten the secrecy of
the whole affair.

NASA Coverups

A major CTL theme advanced by Richard Hoagland is that
NASA knows about the existence of aliens and/or alien
artifacts on different planets, but suppresses the information.
Supposedly there are teams that airbrush photos or review
them for unauthorized detail prior to releasing them, and
secretly stockpiling photographs that reveal anomalies.
Some CTL claims NASA was involved in faking the entire Apollo
moon landings. See [Brian].

Oklahoma bombing/TWA800

CTL states that the FBI/BATF have refused to reveal evidence about
the Oklahoma city bombing to jurors so they don’t reveal that they
had an infiltrator into the group and that they could have averted
the disaster. In the TWA800 crash, CTL insists the government shot
down the plane accidentally during a military training exercise.
See [San97].

Presidential Directives

Thousands of “presidential directives” have been passed by
various presidents, and particular ones are highlighted by
CTL as intending to take away rights from the population in
the event of emergencies. The view is that a national
emergency or economic collapse would be staged and that
the directives would then go into effect, allowing a
totalitarian government, or at least martial law, to take over.

Nazi Relocation: Project Paperclip

CTL states that many Nazi scientists were secretly relocated to
the US and given new identities after WWII by the CIA or
secret military agencies as intellectual assets, and went on
to experiment in secret weaponry and/or mind control research
projects.

Secret Weaponry

HAARP

Montauk/Philadelphia Experiment

A theme of CTL is that governments are developing horrible secret
weaponry without knowledge of their citizens, such as biological
warfare, earthquake weaponry, electromagnetic pulse weaponry,
HAARP (High Altitude Auroral Research Project),
mind altering and control techniques [O’Brien95], etc.
A particularly famous experiment is known as the Philadelphia
Experiment that was supposedly developing time travel as a means
of radar evasion during WWII in the “Philadelphia Experiment”
related to research at Montauk point in New York. See [Nichols92].

FEMA, Mount Weather

FEMA stands for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. CTL
suggests that it is a “trojan horse” for the New World Order,
which will use it as an instrument to take over the government
after a staged disaster. CTL claims FEMA has obtained billions
of dollars and channelled them into underground cities which
the Elite will migrate to in the event of ecological disaster,
abandoning the rest of humanity to a dying surface. Other
theories suggest FEMA would become a new government of the
country and rule with martial law over the population. FEMA
is in charge of a large but secret and concealed facility called
Mount Weather that
is an underground duplicate of the above-ground government structures
for use in extreme emergencies.

Area 51/Antigravity Research

Various authors insist that the government has captured alien
technology and have reverse engineered it for military purposes
(i.e. weaponry or flight technology, so-called antigravity devices).
According to these theories, a point in the
Nevada desert called Area 51 holds this secret technology and
alien spaceship fragments deep underground.
See [Cooper].

AIDS

CTL suggests that AIDS was a planned disease used for
population control or to wipe out undesireable elements
(drug users, homosexuals, blacks). It was supposedly
released in tuberculosis drug trials in New York.
CTL also insists that books revealing the truth about
AIDS have been suppressed from the mainstream.

Cancer

CTL states that various cures for cancer have been
discovered and invented but suppressed by the mainstream
medical establishment which makes large sums of money
for the treatment of the disease. One significant story
involves a scientist Rife who invented a powerful,
unconventional microscope. See [Lynes87].

Free Energy

CTL states that sophisticated energy devices have been
invented to provide cheap and plentiful energy, but that
they have been suppressed by agencies with agendas of
maintaining the status quo, such as oil companies or the
military.
See [Engdahl93] for information on oil politics.

Aliens/UFOs

Another claim of CTL is that aliens have seeded the human
race in ancient times and that the gods referred to in
ancient legends and the Bible are actually referring to these
aliens and their technology. According to [Sitchin76] the
aliens were involved in genetic experimentation to create
a slave race, i.e. humanity.
CTL also claims that religions and historical world events have been
manipulated by aliens to suit their own agenda. See [Bramley90].

Real/Confirmed Conspiracies

A number of writings in CTL have started out branded as
“conspiracy” without any mainstream credibility given them
but eventually admitted by the U.S. government. Three notable
examples:

radiation poisoning by the government of subjects in
medical studies.

psychic research into “remote viewing” by the CIA.

the chemical poisoning of Gulf war veterans.

How Conspiracies Work

An interesting overview of how conspiracies tend to work is
given by [Icke95]. He proposes a typical pyramid structure in
which a secret organization is hierarchical, and knowledge among
the members is greatest at the top and least at the bottom.
Members on the bottom are pawns and dupes, who can be manipulated
through their beliefs and vices. The tendency of members to
fight among each other is useful to their controllers as it
keeps them focused on a narrow view of reality, precluding
the discovery that they are pawns. “Dupes” outside of the
group are people who can be tricked into following the group’s
agenda because of their ignorance or belief system.

Another major mechanism is that of double agents and agent
provocateurs. The former might infiltrate the government but work
under the agenda of some other secret group. They tend to focus
on key positions in government involving the most power and
the least public view. Provocateurs are useful in creating
diversions and distractions or the illusion of problems where
there are none, so that “solutions” favorable to the conspirators
can be introduced.

In the middle of the pyramid are the middlemen, who function like
managers in handing down commands from the upper echelons into
the lower hierarchy. They are better informed and aspire to climb
the pyramid. The Elite at the top of the pyramid have the full
agenda and care only about their own power.

Perhaps most critical of all to the whole framework is a vast,
unsuspecting, uncritical general public composed of people
who would rather watch a sitcom or sporting event than participate
in holding the government accountable for its actions, yet
continue to send it tax money to finance its plans. Authors
sometimes refer to this class as the “sheeple” for their
timidity. Convincing this class of its inability to effect any
change is another key ploy required.

Toward the ends of herding the “sheeple”, the media must be
controlled using various means. Stories that are critical or
expose anything the Elite is interested in need to be snuffed
out or muffled with smokescreens. The earlier players such
as “pawns, dupes, double agents, agent provocateurs” etc.
are ideally involved in part in the media.

Aspects of Human Nature That Lead to Conspiracies

A pattern arises in CTL in which conspiracies arise because of
particular weaknesses in human nature.

Conspirators are motivated to control those below them
by their ego, greed, fear, vice, and megalomania.
They have the feeling that the whole world
is corrupt and that they might as well live with it, and deal
with it in that fashion. They can be readily manipulated
by their higher controllers through their mistaken but rigid
belief systems.

Pawns and Dupes are subject to conspiracies because of their
psychological weaknesses as well. Some are witting accomplices,
others are unaware but nevertheless useful. They are naive
and gullible and do not seek to question the world as they
perceive it. They are closeminded to alternative explanations
to events other than that which they are fed. Their thinking
is black-and-white and is incapable of seeing a more sophisticated
reality beyond “friend” and “enemy”. This “knee-jerk” reaction
can be cultivated by their controllers. Their cynicism and apathy
mean that they are unlikely to try alternative approaches.

The “moving target” mentality insists that whatever is labelled
an “official” conspiracy, i.e. one that is reported in the
press, is not really a conspiracy. That is, conspiracy theories
are considered inherently ridiculous by the word “conspiracy”
alone. The inability to say no means that their freedoms are
taken away without complaint, but merely docile submission.
A herdlike mentality is useful to the controllers, who can
then manipulate the masses more readily. A short attention span
and lack of curiosity mean that the victims are not able
to extricate themselves from their psychological prison.
Finally, fear prevents a pawn or a dupe from “blowing the whistle”
when they discover a conspiracy.

Key Methods of Advancing Conspiracies

A pattern of CTL is that conspiracies are furthered through
specific techniques. These range from the somewhat minor to
extremely sinister.

secrecy

All conspiracies are furthered through secrecy. The people
aware of aspects of the conspiracy might be silent for different
reasons, however. People high on the ladder may wish to maintain
their control. People lower on the ladter may wish to preserve
their own particular “piece of the action”.

guilt, anxiety

People who are deep in guilt or anxiety can be manipulated
to be silent about particular information that would reveal the
conspiracy.

victimhood

People who see themselves as victims, “losers”, or worthless
and expendable by nature will not try to
challenge a status quo that affirms their position of oppression.

greed

People involved in or peripheral to the conspiracy are paid off not to
say anything, or to say things that minimize or conceal the conspiracy,
etc. The conspiracy will “contract” with people to secretly
provide services useful to the conspiracy, etc.

manipulation

The conspiracy is always furthered through manipulation. People
are manipulated to do things they might not otherwise through
all the psychological techniques available. Some of the participants
are aware that they are being manipulated but feel powerless to
shake it off. Others are manipulated in a way that they do not
perceive or are not aware of.

decoys, smokescreens

A ploy used by conspirators would be to create spectacles
that throw people off their track or keep them occupied with
minutia that is not relevant to the key problems of the country.
One example of this may have been when Gary Hart was about to
run for president, with polls suggesting he had a lot of popularity.
Conspirators would arrange to discredit him with something that
seemed scandalous but actually had no relevance to his potentially
sophisticated ability to govern/lead the country.

suppression, censorship

The tools of suppression, censorship of information
are critical to the maintenance of a conspiracy. Sometimes this
goes under the guise of protecting “national security” within the
government. However it might involve using other techniques of
intimidation on reporters who are coming near to the truth, or
other variations.

disinformation, lies, revisionism, coverup

“History is written by the victors”. A very key aspect
of perpetuating a conspiracy is the use of
disinformation or lying to distract or mislead the public,
those at the edges, and those within the plot.
One aspect of this would be manipulating
the media of the country, it’s “eyes and ears”. The public’s
perceptions of a reality free of the conspiracy is crucial to
maintain. The insider’s perception that their own agendas
are being served at all times, without further knowledge of
the deeper plots, is also key.

When there are “leaks”, they must be covered up by agents
of the conspiracy or unwitting dupes who believe they are
ultimately serving their own best interests through the
suppression.

intimidation, terror, paranoia, blackmail

People may be aware of the conspiracy but terrified of revealing
it due to the perceived tactics of the coconspirators. Or, they
may be blackmailed into participating or staying silent.

bribery

Bribery is always one obvious means of manipulating coconspirators,
pawns, or dupes. The bribery might be in the form of money, or
some other vice-payment like sex or drugs. Whatever the human
psychology is susceptible to, could be used.

infiltration

Conspiracies are furthered through the infiltration of agencies
by agents of the conspiracy. For example, those that would seek
to undermine the government would insert themselves into key
positions of power. Their loyalty would not be to the government
but to the secret society of which they are a part.

assassinations

Assassinations are particularly useful to furthering the goals
of a conspiracy when they come in conflict with outsiders. Outsiders
who oppose key elements of the agenda are simply eliminated. The
public, being unaware of the conspiracy as a whole, attribute
the assassination to spurious causes such as “lone nuts”. Assassinations
of those about to directly reveal the conspiracy are the most
crucial. Assassinations disguised as suicides are also useful in
misleading the public and perpetuating the conspiracy.

“trojan horse”, “bait and switch”, “shell game”

A common theme of the CTL genre is that conspirators use
familar techniques to achieve their ends. A favorite is the
“trojan horse” scheme in which the public is tricked into
thinking something is a gift when it is in fact a devious
plot. A “bait and switch” would involve similar aspects.
A “shell game” is a game of deception and distraction in
which the subjects are mixed up about the true outcome,
but play perhaps because of their own greed.
These ideas are frequently played out in the legislature
of the country, a power nexis, in the form of laws that
do not have the consequences the public intended.

“frog boiling”

Another common theme of CTL is that of the delayed plan.
Conspirators who wish to take over the world, for example,
would be very patient and implement their plan in gradual,
minute, indetectable steps. The term comes from the observation
that frogs, when exposed to boiling water, jump away from it
immediately, but when they are put in a pan and the water
is slowly increased in temperature, they may sit and boil
to death.

“pump and dump”

Another common theme of CTL is that pawns and dupes are
subject to a “pump and dump” situation in which they are
favored by the conspirators as long as they are useful,
and then they are hung out to dry (or in the worse case,
murdered) when they no longer serve the needs of the
conspiracy. Hitler would be one example cited by CTL–
he was at first assuaged and supported by a hidden
conspiracy, and then abandoned to die when he was no longer useful.

plots within plots

CTL emphasizes the concept that not everyone in the conspiracy
is working toward the same ends, and that frequently subgroups
are utilized to work against each other. An example of this
would be the Kennedy assassination, in which one CTL book
suggests that a rogue element of the CIA was on the scene and
believed that an assassination was only going to be staged,
but that it would be unsuccessful. Their unknowing contribution
to the final assassination would have supported the overall
agenda, and their guilty complicity would only endanger themselves
in any attempt to reveal the betrayal.

Another example would be the following: the FBI might have
an informant working in a terrorist group. The informant is
in fact a double agent for the conspirators. The FBI thinks
that the informant is going to allow them to seize terrorists
in the nick of time, planting a bomb, thereby being the heroes
of the day. The informant misleads the agency and plants the
bomb anyway. The FBI, through its support of the infiltrator,
or at least lack of opposition, would inadvertently allow
a situation they would not have initially accepted (i.e.
existence of a terrorist group).

Another example would be with the BATF during the Oklahoma
Bombing. CTL suggests that they were aware of an informant
within the bombing group. The informant may have tricked them
into believing they could defuse the bomb at an opportune
moment, thereby gaining favorable media publicity. The BATF
would then be motivated to cover up the details of the
bombing to hide their own negligence, a situation that would
be useful to preventing the real story of the conspirators
from coming to light. The conspirators, supposing they were
really world bankers, might have been motivated to discredit
militias spreading knowledge about them via the bombing.

problem, reaction, solution (thesis, antithesis, synthesis)

A key component of CTL documenting the gradual introduction
of the NWO asserts that the conspirators focus on a single
technique again and again: that of “problem, reaction, solution”.
The conspirators create a fake problem, such as terrorism.
The public reacts and calls out for a solution, and the
conspirators present a pseudo-solution into a form that
increases their own power, such as a government crackdown. The
solution is bogus because the problem is bogus, but this point
eludes the public’s perception. See e.g. [Icke95].

Resources

The SearchNet mailing list focuses on NWO, military, monetary, HAARP, UFO,
current news, and other various conspiracies of interest to posters.
Send “subscribe snetnews” in body of email
to <majordomo@world.std.com>.

The A-albionic mailing list is run by the A-albionic research company
that specializes in conspiracy literature sales.
Send “subscribe prj” in body of email to
<majordomo@mail.msen.com>.

The Conspiracy Research mailing list is dedicated to trying to
build up solid research and FAQs on conspiracy subjects.
Send “subscribe ctrl [yourname]” in body of email
to <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>.

The Agendas mailing list is dedicated to discuss the validity of
various conspiracy theories and global agendas.
Send “subscribe agendas [firstname] [lastname]” in body of email
to <listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu>.

The Spotlight newspaper focuses on the international elite
conspiracy, tracking groups such as the Bilderburgers etc.

Media Bypass magazine is a small-circulation magazine that focuses
on information not found in the mainstream media.

Conspiracy Nation is posted to alt.conspiracy regularly by
editor Brian Redman and has many back issues on conspiracy-related material.